Escape From Terok Nor: Rom's Story
by MissEarlGrey
Summary: This is set during the temporary Dominion/Cardassian alliance on Terok Nor. Gul Dukat rules the station once more, Quark and Rom are left behind, and forced to serve the Cardassian officers. Meanwhile, Rom hatches a plan on his own to escape. Now he only has to convince his brother to go with him.
1. One

One

Rom looked around cautiously, his huge ears listened for signs of any familiar activity. A familiar voice. Even if it was Odo, returning to berate Quark for some infraction of station policy. It had been over a month since his friends had evacuated the station, but he remained hopeful that at least one might return, sneak back on a runabout perhaps. He thought of this regularly, while he wasn't on duty serving drinks. It kept him sane.

Now Cardassian officers were patrolling the Promenade, referring to the station as Terok Nor once again. A place that after many years, he became accustomed to and called his home. He had blocked the previous occupation from his mind, but it was difficult. Now the dreams came back. Always the same, yet growing steadily worse. Ones where he and his brother would be interrogated, humiliated in front of everyone, and his beloved Ferenginar destroyed.

He shook his head, clutching a tool kit in his hand. In his mind, he questioned why Quark made them stay behind. "Gul Dukat contacted me through subspace," Quark had said, "ordering us to remain here. He needs bartenders."

Rom caught a whiff of the kanar that many officers were requesting and drinking. He had grown to detest the odor of the Cardassian ale, and the sight of it. He tried to ignore the officers nearby, loudly discussing the former occupation of Bajor, how pathetic the Federation was, the Dominion alliance, and the hopes that they would be given orders to attack another Klingon outpost.

Quark was laughing with a few Cardassians who briefly engaged him in their conversations, as they requested kanar or red leaf tea. Rom could tell Quark's laugh was forced, but noticed that his brother put on a convincing show of being their comrade.

He held a tool kit in his right hand. He kept his head down as he walked away from the bar, moving through the crowd and hoping he wouldn't get noticed. A few ideas were forming in his mind, but Leeta was foremost in his thoughts. He knew Dukat had sent ships to search for the Defiant.

Is she alright? Is the Defiant in one piece? Oh... she must be worried sick about me. He thought.

He kept his head down as he moved past Cardassian officers, and Jem'Hadar soldiers on the Promenade, and headed for the corridors to his quarters, trying to be discreet. If he was stopped by anyone and questioned, he could just say he was doing repairs. He memorized this excuse as he passed door after door.

The corridors were mostly empty, but he could hear the occasional conversation or laughter of women in the quarters he passed.

Rom squinted as his eyes tried to adjust to the dim lighting, and he bumped into a wall more than once. It was dimmer than usual, after the harsh lighting on the Promenade. He thought he walked into another wall again, and rubbed his head.

"Hey, watch it, Ferengi!" An officer spat at him.

Rom looked up nervously to see the officer glaring down at him. Blinking rapidly, he saw that the tall, thin Cardassian with a severe, sneering expression looked vaguely familiar. Gul Lemec, if he remembered correctly. Once on board the Enterprise, met Captain Picard before the captain was interrogated.

What is he doing here? Rom wondered.

"Are you just going to stand there all day, gaping at me like an idiot?" Lemec asked coldly, "Explain yourself! Shouldn't you get back to the bar?"

He momentarily forgot what he was going to say, and could only stammer an apology. "Uhh s-sorry, sir. E-exc-cuse m-me..."

Rom moved aside to let him pass, and continued walking. Lemec grabbed his shoulder.

"Where are you headed, and what are you carrying?"

Rom froze, but tried to keep his voice calm. "J-just headed to... my quarters to repair... uhh... the replicator."

"That can wait. Go to the bar where you belong. You're not off duty yet!"

After Lemec finished getting all the answers he wanted out of Rom, he seemed satisfied that the Ferengi was being honest, and went on his way. Rom watched his retreating back, and shuddered with relief.

When he entered his quarters, he shut the door, leaning against it and closing his eyes. The station looked the same as it did before Sisko took command. Harsh lights, almost sweltering heat, guards stationed everywhere. Just thinking about it made him thirsty. Wiping his brow, he headed over to the replicator, setting down the tool kit.

"Computer. A tall glass of cold snail juice, please."

Two affirmative beeps sounded, and his beverage materialized in front of him.

He wanted to get out.

At this point, he was sick of taking orders from Quark. It was time to take matters into his own hands. If he could form a union at the bar, protesting how badly the employees were treated, perhaps he could contact somebody in Starfleet.

Now... He thought, as he took a sip of the thick yellow liquid, how can I send a coded message through subspace?

Rom tried to remember how Miles taught him. He heard officers passing by his quarters outside, and it made him lose focus. He could recall vague details, and setting aside his drink on a table nearby, opened the tool kit and distractedly pressed a few buttons, tweaking a few wires and switching a few computer chips.

The first person he thought of to contact was Miles. He couldn't risk visual or auditory communication, so he hesitantly began to type in a message.

Two negative beeps sounded. An automated female voice spoke: "Unable to comply. Messages through subspace have been blocked by Central Command. Please contact the station supervisor for assistance."

Rom groaned, shaking his head.

He paused.

Maybe someone from Ferenginar? He thought. That might be less suspicious. The Grand Nagus?

After some more tweaking of the computer, he felt confident that this would work.

Rom went over to his bed, and dug under the mattress. He took out a box containing his earnings, and began to count the bars of gold pressed latinum.

"Yes... Fifteen bars and ten strips should do it." He murmured.

With that in mind, he contacted the Nagus, offering his total earnings as a bribe to come rescue them. Now all he had to do was wait.


	2. Chapter 2

Two

Rom had finished all of his snail juice, and he had received no response from the Grand Nagus. No visual contact from Maihar'du either.

Perhaps my offer wasn't high enough. Rom thought.

He let out a sigh, as he got up and returned the empty glass to the replicator. He watched as it disappeared, and thought of only one word. Moogie.

Yes. That's it. He thought. Mother has always been on my side. There's nothing she wouldn't do for me.

Now that the coded subspace signal seemed to be working, he began typing a message.

He felt certain that Quark must be looking for him at this time, as well as the Jem'Hadar.

Spurred on by fear, he frantically thought of how to spell each word, as appalling thoughts ran through his mind.

The Jem'Hadar were merciless, he knew. Imagining searing pain radiating through his body, as they would slowly vaporize him, made his fingers tremble.

Soon his heart began racing as he heard footsteps nearby, but he managed to get the message through. He hurriedly pressed a button to send his message as the buzzer sounded.

It was Quark. "Rom! Are you in here? What are you doing? Gul Nekar is looking for you. He was expecting his sem'hal stew and yamok sauce a half hour ago!"

Rom didn't answer, and rushed to put away his latinum, hiding it under the bed as quickly as he could.

"Rom!" Quark snapped, " That's it! I'm coming in!"

Rom realized he dropped a few of his latinum bars, and he began picking them up, just as the door opened.

Quark stared at his brother, stupefied for a moment, then he came to his senses.

"What's going on here?" Quark asked, a hand on his forehead.

"Uhhh... Just thought I'd give a bribe to the Nagus."

Quark squinted. "Fifteen bars? For what?"

"Well... maybe Zek would help me. Have Maihar'du send a shuttle to pick me up if I gave it to him."

Quark laughed. "Fifteen!? Are you really that foolish? Zek wouldn't help you even if you had fifty bars!"

Rom glared at his brother. "Yes, he would! You know the Nagus likes me!"

Ignoring him, Quark glanced at the monitor built into the wall.

"Who else did you contact?"

"Umm. Our mother."

Quark brought up the log entry with just a tap. He squinted again as he tried to read it, and sighed in disgust.

"Rom! How will she be able to read this!? It's so garbled, and not just your grammar, but your spelling is absolutely atrocious!"

Shaking his bald head, Quark added, "If you tried sending this to the Nagus, he most likely got rid of it."

Rom came over and viewed the message.

"It doesn't look too bad! If our mother saw it, she would most definitely understand." Rom replied, defensively.

Quark rolled his eyes. "And what have I told you about contacting people!? I'm already in enough trouble as it is.

Trust me, it isn't easy thinking up believable excuses to calm a suspicious Jem'Hadar!"

Rom stared dumbfounded at his brother.

"Don't tell me... Did Weyoun notice my absence?"

Quark nodded. "Now don't just stand there, let's get back to the bar!"

Rom protested as Quark pulled him out of his quarters by the arm.

"Now," Quark said, as he practically dragged Rom down the corridor, "I need to figure out how to fix the problem you caused. Make some excuse to our mother, and explain that it was all a mistake..."

Rom listened as his brother rambled on. They both stopped talking when they reached the Promenade, and went to the bar.

A Jem'Hadar soldier was the first to approach them. Quark caught his gaze, staring as bravely as he could into that cold grey reptilian face, the white flowing into his neck through a thin tube.

"You both were gone for some time."

Smiling, Quark held up both of his hands placatingly. "Allow me to explain... You see my brother, fool that he is, got confused about my instructions to fix the replicator in the bar, and he thought he meant his quarters, so there he goes-"

"You go back to work, Ferengi. This one comes with me." The Jem'Hadar interrupted, grabbing Rom's arm.

Quark's forced smile quickly fell. His voice wavered as he took a timid step toward the soldier.

"Now just wait a minute-"

Instinctively, the Jem'Hadar thrust a blaster into Quark's chest.

"What... Whatever you say..." Quark said weakly, retreating with his hands up in surrender.

Rom stared helplessly at Quark, as he turned back to the bar and addressed his customers.

Rom tried to keep up with the tall Jem'Hadar as he strode toward the turbo lift his arm hurting from the soldier's grip.

He gasped as he was shoved in, falling back against the steel wall.  
The Jem'Hadar told the computer to take them to Ops.

Rom's stomach lurched as the turbo lift jolted upward.

A few Cardassians glanced at them as they entered Ops, and Rom was taken up the stairs to the station office.

The doors opened, and he was pushed inside. Rom stumbled toward the desk where Dukat was sitting. Weyoun stood beside him, now staring at the Ferengi in curiosity.

Weyoun gave a nod to the Jem'Hadar soldier, and he immediately left the room without a word.

"Why don't you have a seat, Rom." Weyoun said smoothly, indicating a chair in front of the desk. "There are a few questions we'd like to ask you."

Rom gulped. 


End file.
